Analysis: Google-NSA partnership part of broader trend

Google

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
We reported last week the apparent alliance between the Google Corporation and the US National Security Agency, which is the main US government organization tasked with communications interception, as well as communications security. The partnership, which began soon after Google’s decision to close down its venture business in China, where its operations came repeatedly under cyber-attack, has caused considerable controversy among civil liberties advocates. But an op-ed in the US-based Federal News Radio website describes it as the beginning of a new trend, which is likely to intensify. “The public and private sectors are becoming increasingly interdependent”, says the op-ed, noting that “the operation of [America’s] critical infrastructure, including the national power grid, transportation systems, and communication networks, depends upon the ability of public and private sector networks to share information via cyberspace”. It follows that, not only will the apparent partnership between US corporations and intelligence agencies grow, but it will “most likely extend to organizations that are not as large and resourced as Google, but are just as critical to the strength of [the American] nation’s economy”, notes the article.